1921

"Uncle David, will you play marbles with me?" With a glistening hazel orb in his outstretched palm, Harry Veccoli looked up at his ersatz caretaker with wide, hopeful brown eyes. From his mop of so-brown-it-was-almost-black hair, the boy's wayward cowlick seemed to be beckoning to David as well.

David Jacobs didn't like the game of marbles, mostly because he had never been good at it. In the summer of 1899, during the first week that he had worked as a newsie, he agreed to play a game with Racetrack, but he had been no match for the more experienced boy and afterwards, Racetrack had gloated to anyone who would listen about how he had wiped the floor with David. David just didn't seem to have the knack, and possibly the patience, for the game and when Les beat him on one occasion, he had sworn off playing marbles forever. He refused to be bested by his little brother. Thereafter, when David was invited to join a game, he would invariably say something like I have better things to do or Nah…I'll just lose. David looked at Harry, trying to conceal the disinterest that he felt. Perhaps he could attempt to divert the boy's attention.

"It's no fun when you only have two people, Harry. Maybe if Jack and Teddy come over this week, we could have a game. They're both dynamite players."

Harry's forehead creased in disappointment. This was his first full day staying with the Jacobs' and he wondered if his time with them would end up being boring. Racetrack would have said yes to a game of marbles without question. David was so serious at times.

"When Aunt Lily gets back from shopping, maybe we could go for a walk instead," David suggested.

Harry's face fell. The hand that held the marble out to David retreated to his side. "But I got a new aggie last week and I ain't had anyone one to play with."

A wave of shame quickly washed over David's conscience as the circumstances surrounding the child's stay in his home played through his mind. Only two days ago, a policeman had knocked on the door to Ruth's mother's tiny flat to inform the elderly woman that her daughter would be spending a week in Bedford Prison for being complicit in Break Maiden's operations. As Sarah had predicted, Ruth's mother, Gloria, had agreed that it would be better for her only grandchild to spend the week of Ruth's imprisonment with a younger couple. Gloria had a bad hip and a weak heart which often made it difficult for her to keep up with the energies of a seven-year-old boy. Harry, who had never gone more than a day without his mother or his grandmother, was doing his best to put on a brave face as he navigated his first week without family. The night before, David and Lily had been woken by the sound of Harry crying in the spare bedroom that Lily had assigned him. Lily threw on her silk peach-colored dressing gown and went in to comfort Harry, holding his hand until he fell into a deep slumber. All that being considered, David still did not want to play marbles with the child.

"What will we make a circle out of? There is no chalk here and even if we had some, I don't think that Lily would like us drawing on the rug."

"There is some string in my bag with my clothes. That ways, we can play inside."

Defeat from a seven-year-old. David's expression softened at Harry's earnestness. There was something about the boy's innocent and pleading eyes that reminded him of Les as a child. For a moment, David's heart ached.

"Well then, I guess I can't say no," David surrendered, throwing his hands up in the air to signal that Harry had convinced him. "Go get the string."

With a bemused expression on his face, David watched Harry disappear into the guest room. He heard Harry undo the strap on the little carpet bag that had accompanied the child to the Jacobs' flat. Less than a minute after Harry had vanished to retrieve the string, he reappeared in the living room with a small cardboard cigar box, an item that he had filched from Racetrack after all of its contents had been smoked. A genuine smile spread across David's face when he saw the childish enthusiasm that emanated from Harry.

"That was fast!"

"I just had them in the inside pocket with my toothbrush," Harry explained quickly.

"What's in the box?" David asked.

"The string, a shooter for you, and the mibs we gotta hit." Harry saw that David's hands were stuffed into his pants pockets, seemingly not ready to pitch in with the set-up. He pretended not to notice. Harry lifted up the cigar box lid to reveal a pile of white string, one large marble with red and yellow swirls on it, undoubtedly the shooter that David was meant to use, and thirteen smaller marbles of various colors.

"Well, first thing's first…where are we going to put the string?" David wondered aloud.

Harry looked around the living room and then looked down at his feet. "How about right where I am standing?" As far as Harry was concerned, no one place would be better than another.

"Sounds good."

David and Harry simultaneously dropped to their knees. Harry took the string out of the cigar box and David watched his charge carefully form the white loop into a circle, as was standard practice when playing marbles indoors. Harry made minor adjustments here and there to ensure that the circle was as round as possible. When he seemed satisfied with his efforts, Harry looked up at David, seeking approval on how he had laid out the string. He was still of an age where he cared about the opinions of the adults in his life. "What do ya think?"

"I don't think Racetrack could have done better himself," David replied. At the mention of Racetrack's name, Harry's whole affect brightened. The boy idolized his stepfather.

"Nobody can make a better circle for a game of marbles than Race," Harry asserted. He was relieved to see that David's hands were no longer hiding in his pants pockets. Perhaps he was willing to play after all.

David noticed that Harry never called Racetrack "papa" or "dad". He thought that it was a bit odd, especially since Racetrack had lived with Ruth and Harry since just after the boy's third birthday, but he made no comment on the matter.

Satisfied with David's assessment of his handiwork, Harry said, "Let's roll our shooters to see who goes first."

"You can go first," David offered, for he was sure his shooter would stop farthest from the goal line that would help determine order of play. Besides, he was the adult and Harry was the child. David thought that the youngest should go first.

"Really?" Harry looked at David with surprise. While he DID want to win, he didn't want it to be made too easy for him. Harry hoped that David wasn't the kind of adult who really didn't know how to play with kids.

"Really," David echoed.

Harry again doubted if David was actually invested in the game, but he didn't say anything.

"Do you want me to help lay out the marbles? Or do you want to do it yourself?" David asked.

"Let's do half-half," Harry said, holding the open cigar box towards David. "Pick six of the small ones."

"How can we do half-half if there are thirteen marbles?" David knew what Harry had meant, but he wanted to test the boy's math skills.

The question make Harry pause and he sat thinking for a moment. When he realized his mistake, he grimaced and lightly smacked his forehead with the palm of his right hand. "You're right…let's just do six-sevens. You put down six, I'll put down seven."

"That sounds better." David laughed at how Harry had corrected himself and then started to reach for a green marble, however just before his fingertips made contact with it, the telephone in the hallway rang and his hand withdrew from the box.

"I'd better get that, Harry. Why don't you put the marbles in the circle? I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay."

David stood up, quickly brushing off his pants before heading towards the ringing telephone. Left to his own devices, Harry began to place the mibs into the circle.

David picked up the phone's receiver from the hallway table, putting the earpiece to the left side of his head. In a booming and cheerful voice, he said, "Hello?" He thought that it might be Sarah calling to check in on how Harry was adjusting, but at the sound of the caller's voice, the expression on David's face turned sour. "I told you not to call here," David hissed in a near whisper. He didn't want Harry to overhear the conversation. His grip on the telephone's neck tightened as he strained to control his emotions. "What did you expect me to do, Violet?"

Harry already had seven of the marbles in the circle when he paused what he was doing to eavesdrop. He had overheard Ruth and Racetrack speaking about David and Violet when they thought he was sleeping, but he hadn't understood the implications of that hushed late night conversation. All he knew was that David and Violet were spending time together and that Ruth didn't seem to like Violet. In fact, Ruth had wanted Racetrack to fire Violet, but Racetrack had refused. Harry knew better than to ask adults about things that didn't concern him. He resumed placing the mibs in the circle.

"Don't call here again, okay? If Lily had answered the phone—" The interlocuter on the other end of the line cut David off. "Just don't call here!" he finally managed to spit out.

As he placed the last of the marbles into the circle, Harry heard David slam the receiver into its cradle. David did not immediately rejoin Harry in the living room. Instead, he lingered in the hallway staring at one of the large red roses on the teal wallpaper that Lily has chosen for the flat's entryway. He had never liked the wallpaper pattern but over the years, his suggestions to choose another pattern had been dismissed. David closed his eyes and silently counted backwards, starting from ten. When he reached zero, he inhaled deeply, holding his breath for a few seconds before exhaling. He felt a bit calmer, but his chest still felt tight and slightly constricted. David opened his eyes and turned them towards the adjoining room, where Harry was waiting for him.

"So, you thought about your first move yet?" David asked as he walked into the living room.

"Uh-huh," Harry stammered and nodded his head up and down. With a serious expression, he continued. "When you was gone, I decided that we can't play for keeps, cuz I'll need all the mibs for the next time I play."

"Harry, I wouldn't keep your marbles, no matter how many I captured. We're just playing for fun, okay?" David was astonished that Harry had even entertained the idea that a grown man would want to play marbles for keeps.

"Okay. I didn't really think you'd wanna keep my mibs, but I wasn't sure."

In preparation for his first move, Harry lay on his stomach, extending his bird-like legs out behind him. The weight of his upper body was supported off the floor by his forearms and he had his aggie tucked between his right thumb and forefinger. He eyed the marbles within the circle with a discerning gaze. Then, he removed his arms from the ground and let his upper body touch the ground so that his eyes were almost level with the target marbles. When he was ready, Harry placed the knuckles of the hand that held the marble on the floor. With a quick flick of his thumb, Harry's aggie shot out from between his fingers, knocking a blue and white marble that sat in its path out of the circle. Harry pounded a fist on the floor in excitement.

"Yes!"

"Nice one, Harry!" David was honestly impressed with the boy's skill.

"The first shot is always easy," Harry said nonchalantly. He snatched up the expelled marble and then set it down on the carpet next to him. Harry quickly knuckled down again, this time aiming for a red marble. He aimed, flicked his thumb, and sent the aggie careening towards its target. When the aggie slammed into the red marble, the latter rolled across the circle, but stopped just before it could cross out of the string border.

"Damn," Harry squawked in dismay.

"Hey, watch your language," David admonished. What Racetrack and Ruth allowed in their home was one thing, but he knew that his wife wouldn't stand for profanity in their home, particularly coming from a child Harry's age. "Don't talk that way, at least not around Lily."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled. "It's your turn."

David finally plucked the red and yellow shooter from the cigar box, sighing as he hunched his upper body towards the carpet, so that his eyes were as level as possible with the marbles in the circle. He decided to try for a milky white marble that was positioned close to him, but before he could knuckle down and take aim, the click of the apartment door opening sounded.

"I'm back," a mellifluous female voice called. David and Harry looked up from the floor. Lily soon appeared in the living room with a brown paper bag cradled in her arms and a black handbag dangling off the crook of her elbow by its strap. She wore a sky-blue dress and an indigo-colored hat. Seeing his wife encumbered by the bag, David stood up and took it from her. "Let me take that."

With her hands freed, Lily removed her hat, letting it fall to her side in her left hand.

"Thanks. What are you boys up to?"

"Playin' marbles," Harry said, propping his head and torso up with his forearms again.

"David, I didn't know that you played marbles."

"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me," David responded warily.

Lily ignored her husband's tone and looked at the floor. Judging by the number of marbles still in the circle, it was obvious to her that the game had just started. "Can I play?"

"You can play marbles?" Harry was surprised that such a proper grown-up lady would want to play marbles.

"Of course I can! I used to play with my older brother all the time, but it has been a long time since I played." Lily smiled as she remembered the games of her girlhood.

David observed Lily's eagerness. Perhaps this was an opportunity for him to duck out of taking his turn, and possibly, of playing at all. "We only have two shooters. Why don't you take my place? I'll put the groceries away."

"Are you sure?" Lily raised one of her eyebrows.

"I think Harry will enjoy it more with you. Your shooter is the red and yellow one." David pointed to a spot on the floor where he had set down the marble in question. Before Lily could say anything else, her husband opened the swinging door to the kitchen with the back of his body and disappeared with the brown paper bag.

Harry watched David's hasty retreat with curiosity. He had only been staying with the Jacobs' for less than a day, but already it seemed to him that David and Lily, more often than not, were ship's passing in the night. When Lily was in the room with him, David was not. When David was with him, Lily was not. In Harry's home, when Racetrack came back to their flat, he would usually kiss Ruth on the cheek or on the mouth, the latter of which Harry thought was gross, but that was beside the point. There was real affection and comradery between his mother and stepfather. They often just sat together talking over their respective days while munching on salted peanuts. The only time that Ruth wouldn't let Racetrack kiss her was when he had had too much to drink and his breath reeked of spirits.

"Well Harry Houdini, shall I take my turn?" Harry giggled at this nickname. No one had ever called him that before. Lily Jacobs, with her fair skin, silky brown hair, and aquiline nose seemed like a character out of a fairy tale to Harry. She possessed none of the brash femininity this his mother and friends did, with their pouty scarlet red lips and heavily mascarad eyes.

Lily stepped out of her high heels and sank down to the carpet, depositing her handbag a foot or so away from the circle. The fabric of her dress had just enough give to allow her to sit on the floor with her knees bent and legs tucked to one side. She readily picked up the marble that David had pointed out, placing it between her thumb and index finger. It did not escape Harry's attention just how comfortable Lily looked holding the shooter. He saw how her eyes narrowed as they sized up the marbles that lay between them. When Lily bent her head down to get a better look at the playing field, the lilac aroma of her perfume wafted towards Harry's nose. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that he saw her staring at a yellow marble which lay halfway between the two of them. Lily's slender playing hand knuckled down. She aimed her shooter, letting it slide out of her fingers with precision and purpose. Both she and Harry watched as the rolling sunset knocked the yellow marble out of the circle.

Harry understood immediately that Lily would be a formidable opponent. A smile of admiration splayed across his mouth.